Chuck Ryor

I’m trying to re-write a portion of my dissertation this week.  I’m having trouble focusing.  It’s amazing the list of things I can get done when I’m trying to avoid doing the one thing I’m supposed to be doing.  I’m way ahead in so many areas…except on this dissertation.

During my last year of both seminary and undergraduate school I had the same problem – I couldn’t stay focused on the task at hand because I was so busy thinking about post-graduation.  This is an ongoing struggle for me spiritually, too, as I have a difficult time living in the moment.

Psalm 118:22-24, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.  This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.  This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

God has done a lot in each of our lives.  But when we get overwhelmed with thoughts of tomorrow, we tend to not see His glory today.  When we don’t see His glory today, life’s struggles can overwhelm us.  When things are going well we usually don’t notice, but hit that bump in the road (and perhaps lose your “stuff”), it’s then that you realize your focus is elsewhere besides God.

I have to drive on the 210 to get to my office.  I’ve noticed that I can’t hear my engine very well when I’m traveling at 70+mph with my stereo on.  However, when I turn the radio off and pull into the parking lot, I hear pings and knocks that previously I wasn’t even aware were there.

My point is that if we don’t slow down and enjoy today we’ll not only miss out on the great things that God wants us to celebrate, but we’ll also not hear when things are out of whack in our hearts.  The Father has created today to be one where you and I will experience Him.    Today’s the day He’s made.  Join me in trying to stay focused on it.

Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”  But he answered, “You give them something to eat.”  They said to him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”  “How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.” When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.” – Mark 6:36-38

This week I’ve been thinking a lot about the passage dealt with last Sunday at Prism Church (see “What is Gospel Giving” at HERE or download from iTunes store).

Jesus asks the disciples to feed 5000 people and they accurately assess that they only have five loaves and two fishes.  I get why the disciples were a bit troubled by Jesus’ ongoing challenges to do things they didn’t have the ability to do.  They were correct to assume that THEY couldn’t feed 5000 people.  They were incorrect to think that Jesus couldn’t feed 5000 people through them.

It is conceivable that many don’t attempt great things for God because all they ever do is accurately assess their limited capabilities.  Modern “Self-help” methodology encourages us that we already have all we need in ourselves to accomplish all of our dreams.  I hate to be “Johnny Raincloud,” but if you can’t sing, you’re not going to be the next American Idol.  Listen to all the Tony Robbins tapes you want, but it isn’t going to change the fact that you can’t carry a tune.

The Scriptures over and over declare that we are powerless to do anything apart from God.  Either He is the author of the natural capabilities that we already have, or more importantly He is the Alpha & Omega and He can do anything through us.  Ultimately He is the one to credit for anything “naturally” accomplished.  But Jesus is certainly capable of doing infinitely more than we can conceive of doing (even after “unleashing our Personal Power!”).

There are three things standing between us and an opportunity to do great things for Jesus:  (1) We want to delude ourselves into thinking we can do those works in our own strength; or  (2) We don’t want to do them for Jesus; or (3) We never try because we don’t believe that Jesus can do the impossible with the little that we have to offer.

You are correct to assess that you don’t have what it takes to accomplish that which God may be calling you to do.  Assuming you want to do something great for Jesus, you’re just once step from a miracle.  Bringing what you have to Jesus.

‎The miraculous only happens through really weak people depending on a really powerful God!

When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.”  He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”  Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it.  He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s house, then the LORD will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.” – Genesis 28:16-22

Here at the start of 2012 I’ve started another trek through the Bible.  I’m reading through one of those “Through the Bible in a Year” plans where you start in the Old Testament and keep going until the end of the New Testament.   Just about the time you hit Christmas you’re near the end of your journey, trying to somehow emotionally reconcile the “Beast” and “Anti-Christ” from the book of Revelation with your celebration of Christ’s birth, presents and holiday cheer.

Anyway.

I just finished Genesis and am once again impressed with something that the Israelites did.  They built monuments.  All over the ancient world, God’s people would erect these stone symbols of God’s working and faithfulness. They and their descendents would acknowledge these markings when walking past and look upon them with reverence to remember all that God had done.

My wife and I were recently talking about the number of ways that we’re praying for God to move mightily in our lives and church this year.  We’ve determined that one of the real benefits of monuments to God’s greatness is that when you face new trials you can remember how faithful He has been in the past.  These reminders are what give us renewed confidence and optimism.

Unfortunately, many of us often forget what God has done.  We see or experience His faithfulness in one way or another and then move on to thinking about our next “need” or “emergency.” If you’re like me at all, you haven’t frequently stopped first to properly thank him, celebrate His grace, or mark the occasion with a memorial to remind us later how good He has been.

What does that look like for you?  I’m still trying to figure out what that looks like for me.  I don’t imagine I’ll be building a limestone obelisk in my front yard.  But the idea would be that these reminders would be semi-permanent and obvious enough that I’d see it regularly.  My hope would be that as new challenges come our way in 2012 that we’d be able to remember God’s past graces.  I am confident that this awareness will fuel our love for Jesus and service to Him.

After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.  “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”  As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.  “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”  At once they left their nets and followed him. – MARK 1:14-18

I had a conversation with a local pastor who echoed the sentiments of many Christians by saying, “We don’t ‘do’ church, we’re concerned with ‘being’ the church.”  At the heart of this expression is a frustration with a high-program entity called “church” that has very little connection at a one-on-one relationship level.  The reaction to this busy church environment for some is to course correct and be a congregation that is most concerned with the development of its own community.

While no pastor or lay leader I’ve ever known would say, “I hate community, I wish we could do without it,” there certainly exists a sense among some that something is amiss in churches where people don’t seem to have genuine connection with others.  At a human level we all want to be genuinely known and loved in spite of that fact.  This was the “Good News of God” that Jesus proclaimed:  Believers are known by God and loved in spite of it.  This is also at the heart of authentic community and why many would avoid it:  People can be difficult to be around when you really get to know them.

Three thoughts come to mind when I think about the challenges associated with being around difficult people.  First of all, I’m a difficult person.  I believe we all are in some ways.  So, we ought to get over the idea that everyone else is fortunate to be in our presence.  Secondly, it is unlikely that we will be able to know and love others unconditionally if we haven’t experienced the gospel in its fullness on a deeply personal level.  We must understand that on the cross, Jesus absorbed our deserved judgment and cleared the way for broken, sinful people to be who they are in the presence of God and yet be freely adored as His children.

Finally, I know that even committed followers of Jesus who enjoy “being” the church will tend exhibit a good bit more pettiness and selfishness if they don’t keep in mind that following Jesus isn’t a stagnant process.  When Jesus called his first disciples and told them he would make them fishers of men, he declared that being part of His entourage entailed walking places with him and bringing others along for the journey.  Only in His presence, on His mission of proclaiming the good news, will followers of Jesus have Him mediate their inclination to put their own needs above another’s.

In other words, we can’t “be” the church unless we are in the process of “doing” what the church should be doing:  following Jesus and communicating His gospel so that others will join us and follow Him, too.

I don’t know Mark Driscoll.  I shook his hand and thanked him for his service a couple of times at Acts 29 pastors conferences, but we aren’t buddies and he wouldn’t know me from Adam.  I say this because the presumption of his critics is that pastors in our network (which he co-founded with a Presbyterian) are somehow under a spell of his leadership and unable to detach from him.  These people clearly have little contact with Acts 29 pastors.

The real miracle of the Acts 29 Network is how you can get so many type-A males in a room together and have them not eat each other alive.  The admirable part of Driscoll’s leadership in A29 has been how hands off he’s been regarding the evolution of the network (President Scott Thomas really runs the show), and how willing he is to admit when he screws up.

If critics of Driscoll spent any time with Acts 29 pastors they would be shocked at how strong all of these men are.  The notion that any of these guys have fallen under a spell or don’t have the moxie to stand up to him is laughable.  That doesn’t mean there isn’t a bunch of Driscoll wannabes around the country, but their motivation is usually their own fame and/or desire for influence.  That’s not his fault – there is a bunch of Brian McLaren wannabes writing on Internet blog sites, too.

I can assure you that I don’t agree with everything Mark Driscoll says and has said.  I’m fairly sure Driscoll doesn’t agree with everything Mark Driscoll has said. I have cringed at things Driscoll has written, but I’ve cringed thinking about things I have written.  I’ve never seen an organization where strong, young leaders (male and female) don’t make fools of themselves as they figure this all out.  Isn’t that the nature of growing as a person? You realize your ignorance or foolishness and then you adjust and mature.

Unless you never say anything, the odds that you’ll say something wrong are pretty high.  However, some of Driscoll’s critics simultaneously take exception with how “conservative” his theology is and how “liberal” and reckless he is in his speech.  That’s like getting mad at your spouse for not expressing his/her feelings and then getting angry about what they say when they finally do.

The theological statement of our network gives each local church latitude to differ on certain issues that the network doesn’t think are central to the gospel and our mission.  This translates to all of us being in a process of learning and growing regarding how to live out our faith.  I believe things differently than I did ten years ago, which is why I’m no longer a Presbyterian minister.

The critics of Driscoll’s new book “Real Marriage” have swooped down to rip apart both him and everything he believes that bothers them.  The far right, the far left, and everyone in between (including the friendly atheists) all think he’s terrible, awful, hurtful, cruel, ignorant, and a deceiver. I’m not here to defend the “Real Marriage” book or the hype around it.  I liked a lot of it, I disliked some of it, I found portions of it disturbing.  I am interested in once again pointing out what I think is obvious about the times in which we live.

I’m always amazed that bloggers (professional critics) don’t ever seem to comprehend the implied disrespect in their critique of Driscoll or their condescending “empathy” for those who agree with him.  “His poor wife, Grace.”  “His legions of followers.”  “The army of misogynistic pastors he commands.”  Assuming these hordes actually exist, they’re all apparently really stupid and incapable of thinking for themselves.  The women are trapped in unenlightened thinking about family because they are uneducated, scared, sad little southern women.  Clearly, if you disagree with Driscoll’s critics, “you just don’t see the world the way it should be seen.” Isn’t this type of thinking one of the reasons the emergent church has retreated from traditional evangelicalism?

Don’t imagine for one second that you’ll ever hear critics say that Grace Driscoll knows what she believes, is an intelligent woman and that it’s possible she’s right and they’re wrong.  And this is the great hypocrisy of those who spend their time criticizing other people:  in their criticism they often ironically display outwardly the same internal issues they claim drive the objects of their disdain.  The emergent church bloggers who contend that Mark Driscoll is arrogant and demeaning to women are presuming that the woman he’s married to and the women in Acts 29 churches are not as liberated, educated and/or mature, as are they.

That sounds pretty arrogant and demeaning to me.

Rick Harrison of the History Channel Show “Pawn Stars”

It happened again today.  It does at least once a week.  Someone told me I look like the guy from Pawn Stars.  The jury is still out as to whether or not I think that is a compliment.  Or if it’s true.  Bald, white guys with goatees all look the same, and now share a common experience with every non-anglo group in America who often hear insult in that refrain.  I’m only insulted because it reminds me of how old and out of shape I am.

It brings up the question of who do you look like?  Various television talk shows have featured versions of “Which famous person do you look like?”  Back when I was in college, that game also happened to be one of my favorite entrees to talking to girls.  Apparently, I now look like a guy from the History Channel.  What about you?  Send me a photo and let me see the comparison.

Perhaps you’ve heard the phraseology that Christians are supposed to be “Christ-like.”  The essence of this Scriptural admonition comes from Philippians 2:1-7:

“If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.  Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:  Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing,  taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”

During Christmas season we hear a lot about the glory of God in the birth of Christ.  Less often we talk about the humility of Christ inherent in his incarnation.  Jesus was awfully comfy in the warm community of Father, Son & Holy Spirit.  Angels worshipped and served Him.  He was royalty from all eternity past.

He left those heights to come low and be with us (“Immanuel” = God with us) and embody perfection in our humanity. Jesus condescended to earth and was willing to be subjected to the judgement that only sinful humanity deserved.  He didn’t consider his status with God something he would hang on to or as Philippians 2 says, “to be grasped, but made himself nothing.”

Because His life is worth infinitely more than the sum of all of humanity, his blood would satisfy the justice of God and free us from God’s justifiable wrath.  The degree of a Christian’s security in the presence of God is proportional to the value of Jesus’ life.  We sign Christmas carols because of this thrilling reality!

O Holy night, the stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Til He appeared and the soul felt it’s worth
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn

How glorious Jesus is underscores how amazingly humble he was in leaving heaven to rescue broken humanity.  His humility amazes me.  If you really want to stand out amongst a culture where the masses (including ourselves naturally) are pursuing their own glory and honor at any cost, try imitating the humility of Jesus.

The greatest compliment anyone could ever give us is to say that we looked like Jesus.  Unfortunately, Christians haven’t very often fallen to the claim that they all look the same.  That’s a pity.  We all should be humble like the Savior.

“He must become greater; I must become less.” – John the Baptist in John 3:30

Just finished listening to a sermon by my friend, Rankin Wilbourne.   His subject of what to do with our ambition as followers of Christ is something I’ve contemplated for a while.  I’d encourage you to listen to the message yourself, it’s HERE!

As a church planter it is my ambition to see Prism Church be an effective ministry for Jesus Christ in LA’s San Gabriel Valley and the world.  That’s on my good days.  On my bad days, I want to see the church succeed so that I can feel good about myself and look good to my peers.   It is the “love of distinction” that is such a huge idol to all of us, including pastors.

For instance, there is a strain of thinking in ministry that says a healthy church is always growing numerically.  Presumably, people look at the church in the book of Acts and see phenomenal growth and assume that this is the way it always should be.  The result is a ministry philosophy that says if your church is small or shrinking or leveling off attendance-wise, you must be doing something wrong.

I’m not arguing for a church that shrinks or disagreeing that many times churches that are leveling off numerically are doing something counterproductive to their growth.  However, I am concerned that many churches and pastors suffer unnecessarily from the burden that they are not making a big enough splash for Jesus because they aren’t growing at a particular rate.

The call of the ambitious Christian is that which was John the Baptist’s call – to make Jesus famous.  To have him increase, even at the expense of our own need for affirmation or sense of accomplishment.

The Bible features multiple examples of men and women of God whose effectiveness trajectory peaks at some point and then declines…often sharply.  Take Moses, for example.  He leads the Israelites out of Egypt and delivers the 10 Commandments to the people in the desert.  And that’s about when things started going south.

First of all, how many new adult believers would Moses pick up in the desert?  No one but Jews were around once he and his flock entered the wilderness.  Wandering for decades in the desert would mean that his flock of believers grew by births only.  As well, along the way a significant chunk of his adult demographic died in the desert by virtue of judgments of God or by natural causes.  By the time Moses got to the Promised Land, he was so ticked off at the obstinate people that he struck the rock of God in anger and was prohibited from entering into Jericho with the other Israelites (see Numbers 20).  As the kids say, “Sucks to be him.”

My favorite example of what I’m talking about – or most frightening if I’m honest – is that of John the Baptist.  This brother had it going on as the forerunner of the Messiah (Mark 1:2-3).  Large crowds, bold preaching, “radical” and “crazy love” for God.  He was doing it all right, right?  At the apex of his ministry (in his young 30’s), John baptizes Jesus.

And just like that he was out of the limelight.  Some of his closest disciples were troubled by this and actually said, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—well, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.” (John 3:26).

John’s response, “He must become greater; I must become less.” (John 3:30)

You may think that John would have at that point retired in contentment to his Lake house in Galilee.  Not so much.  In fact, he continued proclaiming repentance and the arrival of the Messiah to smaller and smaller crowds.  At one point he began to doubt whether or not Jesus was really the Messiah (Luke 7:20).  In his last “outreach event,” John’s preaching so irritated Herod the tetrarch and his mistress, Herodias (his brother’s wife), that he was arrested and eventually beheaded.

What’s my point?  Rare are the occasions where Christian ministers get to preach their last sermon from a deathbed to their ever-increasing throng of followers.  It looks as if Billy Graham will get such a privilege.  However, most of the rest of us will see a success trajectory like Moses and John the Baptist.  In order to be comfortable with this reality, we will have to find our greatest joy in simply being the children of God – regardless of our circumstances or the results of our labors.

It only makes good sense to have as our greatest ambition to be the glory and honor of Jesus, because even in the case of great loss or our death, Christ’s fame can still be advanced.  And that’s a good thing, because physical death is where all of us are ultimately headed.

To kick off the Advent Season on November 27, I had the privilege of speaking at two wonderful churches in Tallahassee, Florida: Four Oaks Community Church (pastored by my good friends Erik Braun & Paul Gilbert…and other great guys) and CenterPoint Church (a congregation of my friends with whom I started that community in 2003).

Through this season, I believe that it is critical for us to remember it is about knowing Jesus and enjoying Him.  I hope that if you’ve not heard this message from Acts 8, you’d listen and enjoy!

“The Real Miracle in the Desert.”

I had the chance to share the gospel with a couple of friends today.  These are relationships I’ve been building for sometime and I was pretty excited to tell them of God’s love for us in Christ.  The experience has taught me again that great joy resides in getting to tell others of the love God.

Psalm 98:1-3 - “Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.  The LORD has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations. He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.”

Jesus declared in Matthew 28 that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to Him subsequent to his victory over sin and death on the cross, and his resurrection from the grave.  According to the Nicene Creed of legitimate Christian churches, “He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.  He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.”

Psalm 98:9 - “Let them sing before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.”

The beauty of the gospel is not that God unjustly ignores our sin or unthinkably redefines our sin as unoffensive, but that He exacts His justice and demonstrates His mercy simultaneously in Christ.  We justly deserve to be punished, but Jesus is mercifully substituted for us.  Our sin is absorbed by Him (even thought He is holy) and His holiness is absorbed by believers (even though we are sinful).

This is how the gospel can make us simultaneously “ok” with God and yet broken, sinful people at present.  Martin Luther used the Latin phrase, “Simul justus et peccator” (simultaneously just and sinful).  It is in response to the undeserved salvation given to believers that we “burst into jubilant song.”  (Psalm 98:4)

We are not celebrating because we are naturally righteous and God is coming to reward our faithfulness.  We sing before the Lord because he judges the people “with equity.”  In the case of the believer who is relying on Christ to have taken their just punishment, justice will be delivering to the “justified sinner” a reward that only a holy person would deserve.  It’s a gift from Jesus.

That’s God’s grace.  That’s the Gospel.  That’s what amazed me again this morning and I pray would amaze my two friends.

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. – LUKE 5:8-11

October is the month where Prism Church celebrates its first anniversary as a worshipping congregation.  While we rejoice in all that God has done this past year, we also look forward to the future.  As a church we collectively hope that God will renew and revive a people to love Him more passionately and share His love with others as never before.

My prayer for Prism Church this month is a simple one:

“Oh, God and Father, let us see your glory.  For as we see your majesty, your holiness, your purity, and your power, we will instinctively be humbled at your feet.

And then, Lord Jesus, let us hear your loving, kind voice reassure us that we are not condemned.  Then we will rise to our feet, praise you and go forth to live lives for the honor of your name.

May your name be made famous, exalted and honored at Prism Church both now and forever more.  Amen.”